Non-aqueous liquid detergent compositions are known in the art and have been described in quite a number of patent publications, e.g. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,316,812, 4,874,537 and EP-A-0,484,095. Generally, the free water content of non-aqueous liquid detergent products is less than 5% by weight, preferably less than 2% by weight, more preferably substantially nil.
Non-aqueous liquid detergent compositions normally comprise a non-aqueous liquid phase having incorporated therein as dispersion, solution or combination thereof, the usual detergent components and adjuncts depending on the purpose of use, primarily surfactants and builders.
The liquid phase often comprises a nonionic surfactant as major component, which apart from acting as carrier liquid for the detergent components, usually and preferably also has detergent-active properties, thereby acting wholly or in part as the surfactant ingredient.
Non-aqueous liquids provide a way of concentrating liquid detergents without giving in on washing performance.
One weakness of non-aqueous liquid cleaning products is that on dilution with water, they may tend to suffer from gelling and the ingredients tend to stick together. As a consequence thereof, the product disperses only slowly in water and this may have a negative influence on the cleaning performance of the product, e.g. the product will not uniformly dissolve over the total of washing liquor on time. The gravity of this drawback is mainly dependent upon the type of liquid phase used in the formulation of non-aqueous liquid detergent compositions. This is for example true with liquid phases comprising a nonionic surfactant and/or surfactant mixtures, such as mixtures of C13-C15 alcohols with an average of 3 ethoxy groups and C13-C15 alcohols with an average of 7 ethoxy groups and liquid phases as described in GB 1,462,134, WO 91/12313, WO 91/14765 and EP-A-0,510,762.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the dispersibility of non-aqueous liquids.